Emerio CEO Harish Nim Talks Synergy and NTT Com

This definition not only inspired a name for the Southeast Asian IT services company, but it informs the work they do and how they do it. The company, majority acquired by NTT Communications in 2010, has been in business for 15 years and employs approximately 1,500 people. Established in Singapore, Emerio today enjoys a wide presence over Southeast Asia with bases in Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, India, and more. We spoke to CEO Harish Nim to discover more about this leading technology services and outsourcing company and their acquisition by NTT Communications.

Nim describes the work Emerio does as application development, business analytics, application support, and remote infrastructure support. Their customers can be found all over Southeast Asia and increasingly, in Europe. After enjoying rapid growth over the company’s first ten years of business, Emerio experienced somewhat of a slowdown three to four years ago. It was at that time that Nim decided to look for a strategic partner. As he puts it, “I’ve always believed in growth because if the company doesn’t grow, then how do our people grow?… There’s no fun in just maintaining status quo.” They wouldn’t have to maintain status quo for long as there were seven companies knocking on their door. NTT Communications was one of them. “Five of these … companies came in and when I heard their proposals, for me NTT Com was the best,” recounts Nim. The reasoning was simple: in Nim’s words, NTT Com connects continents and countries by undersea cables and builds data centers, which Emerio uses to provide their services, creating a great synergy.

This synergistic relationship is indeed borne out in reality. The value NTT Communications has brought to Emerio can be represented in part by the over 2,200 clients of NTT Com to whom Emerio can now offer their services. On the other hand, Emerio brings to the table IT services that weren’t necessarily a part of NTT Communications’ offerings. “On (sic) hindsight, it was probably the best decision I could have made,” concludes Nim, “that’s what my people think, that’s what my customers think.” Over the past two years, Emerio has benefited increasingly from their relationship with NTT Communications, and NTT Com has gained a subsidiary that can deliver services out of Southeast Asia in virtually every Asian language.

The future looks bright for Emerio and NTT Com. “I firmly believe that NTT Com, through Emerio, has a great opportunity ahead of it in terms of kickstarting the offshoring from Japan,” says Nim. He estimates that by the end of 2014, having expanded into Malaysia and Singapore, Emerio will have about 1,500 people providing services to NTT in Japan. Nim also expects growth to come out of Emerio’s work with other NTT Group subsidiaries. Working together to capitalize on the thriving market of Southeast Asia is an obvious source of growth and will continue to be in the coming years.

Nim, admittedly emotional and intuitive when it comes to making decisions, had a very good feeling about the partnership with NTT Com. “[T]he synergy had to be right, the people that I was dealing with had to be nice… and I found that in NTT Com,” states Nim, matter-of-factly. Emerio has a practice in which employees are recognized each quarter for going the extra mile and providing exceptional service to customers. The selected employee is known as the best “Emerion.” In an industry that can easily be anything but personal, it is comforting to know that NTT Com has “Emerions” on their side.